I received a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian in “an unmarked crosswalk” in Temple City. There were about 20 motorcycle officers from the Sheriff’s Department handing out traffic citations to motorists who failed to yield to undercover officers walking across Lower Azusa Road in the “unmarked crosswalk.”

The officers waited on the south end of Doreen Street, complete with shade structures and a coffee bar. Vehicles that failed to yield and stop were pulled over and received a traffic citation.

This is a non-signal intersection with only two streets that connect in a 90-degree angle. There is no painted crosswalk. The speed limit is posted on Lower Azusa Road at 40 mph with four lanes, two in either direction. Those pulled over received $250 citations.

I had no idea what an “unmarked crosswalk” was at the time. I contested the traffic ticket on July 12 in the Alhambra court house. The judge, after hearing my defense, ruled I was not guilty. I proved that in order to have an “unmarked pedestrian crosswalk,” you have to have an intersection with at least two streets. The Vehicle Code Section 590 definition of a street is “a road way that is publicly maintained and is open to the public for vehicular use.” Since all of the policeman were staged at the south end of Doreen Street, they posted barricades at both ends of the staging area in addition to the two turn lanes that were also closed.

That street closure had nullified the requirements of the intersection and therefore the “unmarked crosswalk” did not exist. What really happened that morning was the Sheriff’s Department going on a financing campaign against the citizens of this community by handing out over 131 invalid traffic citations that grossed over $40,000.

This needs to be exposed as a black eye given the county Sheriff’s Department. So that there won’t be another traffic ticket jamboree in Temple City, or elsewhere.

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